C How to Motivate Students to Take Another Look Authentic

T EACHING LITERACY
Tyler eagerly reads the letter
from his pen pal.
Authentic
Reasons for
Close Reading:
How to Motivate
Students to Take Another Look
by Elizabeth Dobler
C
lose reading entails returning to
the text multiple times for multiple
reasons. As an adult reader, I may
read a recipe several times, once to identify
the list of ingredients prior to shopping,
a second time to gather and organize
cooking materials and supplies, and a third
time as I am actually preparing the food.
While our own reading habits as teachers
provide a backdrop for understanding close
reading, teachers must focus on the various
ways to engage our students with close
reading to deepen comprehension.
Timothy Shanahan (University of
Illinois, Chicago, and a past president of
IRA) presented a session at the 2013 IRA
Convention in San Antonio, entitled
Meeting the Common Core Challenge:
Planning Close Reading. Shanahan’s view
is that meaning is hidden in the text, and
the reader’s task is to extract this meaning
through careful and thorough analysis
and reanalysis, with each subsequent
return to the text based on a unique
purpose. A suggestion for teachers is
to select high-quality texts that make
www.reading.org
reading and re-reading worthwhile, and
then plan for a multi-day commitment to
a text, with a focus each day on a specific
reading mission to be accomplished.
entails the establishment of authentic
reasons for students to return to a text for
developing deeper levels of comprehension.
In2Books
To prepare for instruction, a teacher
must first read the text and identify
aspects of the text that could require
special effort for a particular group of
students. These aspects may include key
vocabulary, unfamiliar concepts, or gaps
in information. Then through purposeful
reading and rereading, the teacher guides
students to peel away the layers of meaning
within a text, like layers of an onion, while
also tackling the challenging aspects of
the text.
A quandary facing teachers is to provide
guidance in this meaning-making treasure
hunt but to not give away the location of
the treasure. When a teacher, attempting to
be helpful, provides too much information
about the text’s meaning, the reader is
deprived of the opportunity to think deeply
and unearth the treasure of comprehension.
Promoting close reading in the classroom
In2Books (http://in2books.com) is a
program that encourages close reading
within a motivational reading experience
by matching children with adult eMentors.
Both mentor and student read the same
book from a selected list and share ideas
about the book via online letters, which
are uploaded to the teacher’s inbox and,
when approved, passed on to the student
or mentor. The students, prior to preparing
their letters, read and discuss the book
in the classroom, within a small group or
whole class setting, all the while knowing
a mentor awaits in the virtual wings to also
discuss the book through electronic pen
pal letters.
Having an authentic audience gives
students a reason to return to the text, to
think beyond the surface, to formulate their
ideas about the text, and to present these
ideas in a clear and cohesive way. Mentors
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participate in a background check, to ensure
the safety of the online learning community,
and they must commit to working with
a student for the full academic year. The
writing center, a website feature, provides
pen pals with tools to guide mentoring,
such as thought-provoking questions, key
vocabulary, and sample letters.
Susan Rodriguez, a fourth grade teacher
at Whiteriver Elementary School on the
White Mountain Apache Reservation in
Arizona, describes the benefits her students
reap from having an audience for their
thoughts about the book. “My students
are more careful with their work because
it has an authentic purpose. They want
to be an expert on the book, so that
when they write their letter to their pen
pal, they would seem knowledgeable.
The motivating factor is that some other
human, their buddy, their pen pal, their
confidant, is going to read that letter. They
want correct spelling. They want correct
grammar. They want to sound like experts,
so they refer back to the book.”
In the process, Susan’s students learned
how to reference text, how to infer
meaning, how to use a dictionary/spell
check, how to use a thesaurus, and how to
type. Susan views this type of learning as
authentic, giving her students a real reason
to read closely, to delve into the book, and
to peel away those layers of meaning.
In2Books provides a recommended
list of children’s literature, along with
suggestions for in-class literature circles
Did you know that IRA offers awards
and grants for In2Books projects?
Visit www.reading.org/awards to learn
more about the IRA Erwin Zolt Curriculum
Excellence Award to support exceptional
design and execution of a curriculum
unit based on In2Books/e-Pals and the
Common Core State Standards (CCSS),
the IRA Esther Zolt Academic Research
Grant for a research study on the
effective classroom implementation of
an In2Books/e-Pals project and the CCSS,
and the IRA Esther Zolt Teacher Research
Grant to support an action research study
about implementing an In2Books/e-Pals
project and the CCSS. Applications are
due November 15.
and instructional activities linked to the
Common Core State Standards. During
class, the teacher lays the foundation and
creates opportunities for students to make
meaning from the book, and the students
demonstrate and further develop their
understanding through the pen pal letters.
As Susan says, “The students read their
books and take notes. They talk about the
book and hear other people’s ideas. All
so that when they go to type their letter,
their pen pal, whom they will never meet,
will be impressed with what they have
learned.” Susan’s students eagerly await
responses from their pen pals.
Students are prompted to consider
aspects of the text in a new way, possibly
returning to the text with this new
perspective for an even closer reading. For
these fourth graders, having a connection
to an adult through the sharing of books
and letters is a powerful motivator not only
for reading but for overall success in school.
Other Ways to Encourage
Close Reading
Ask students to share their interpretations of
a text, whether orally, in writing, or through
a visual creation. This accountability
to others can be a motivating factor for
developing the stamina required to read
a text with thoroughness and return to
the text again to seek a deeper layer
of meaning. Activities such as literature
circles or a class book blog give students
the opportunity to present their thoughts
to others and provide purposeful reasons to
return to a text for a closer look.
One way to encourage students to
return to a text for a second or third
reading, as Shanahan suggests, is to provide
authentic and unique purposes for each of
the re-readings. One pass with the text
may focus on the details or story structure.
The next may seek to define the author’s
craft or ways the author utilizes dialogue,
description, or other literary techniques to
convey ideas. A third encounter with the
text may entail an analysis of the theme,
a character’s motivation, or the thread
linking ideas together.
Do all texts require readers to reread
three times? Close reading is a mental
process, not a checklist. A teacher
promotes close reading by setting up
reading situations which encourage
students to practice this mental process.
If the text is complex and requires a closer
look to gain a deep understanding, then
three reads may be needed. A simple text
may only require one reading. A goal
is to help students understand when
a closer reading is needed and when a
single view will suffice.
Close reading does entail rereading, but
it must be purposeful rereading. The close
reading experiences of Susan’s students
serve to deepen their comprehension
and validate their ideas. The knowledge,
motivation, and confidence gained are
positive benefits that can be transferred to
other reading experiences. Close reading
should be viewed not as a task, but as an
opportunity to extend our understanding
for real reasons and in authentic ways.
14
Reading Today
June/July 2013
www.reading.org
More on Close Reading
To learn more about close reading, see
these resources:
Beers, K. & Probst, R. E. (2013).
Notice & Note: Strategies for Close
Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2012). Close
reading in elementary schools. The
Reading Teacher, 65(3), 179–188.
Hinchman, K. A. & Moore, D. W.
(2013). Close reading: A cautionary
interpretation. Journal of Adolescent &
Adult Literacy, 56(6), 441–450.
Shanahan, T. (2013). Meeting the
Common Core Challenge: Planning Close
Reading. Retrieved from https://sites.
google.com/site/tscommoncore/home/
close-reading
Elizabeth Dobler is a
literacy professor at Emporia State University, in
Emporia, Kansas, edobler@
emporia.edu.
Phases of a Close Reading Lesson
Note: These suggestions are excerpted with permission from a slide
presentation posted online by IRA Past President Timothy Shanahan,
University of Illinois, Chicago. See https://sites.google.com/site/
tscommoncore/home/close-reading.
Prereading
• Set the context for the text without revealing too much information
and thus denying students the opportunity to think deeply
Timothy
themselves.
Shanahan
• Keep it short and to the point. Prereading activities should be no
longer than the reading itself and not cover concepts taught within
the text and/or illustrations.
First Reading—What Does the Text Say?
• Guide students to consider the most important elements of the text, and clarify
confusion.
• Ask students to summarize the information or retell the story, including the key ideas
and details.
Second Reading—How Does the Text Work?
• Lead the students in considering the author’s craft and the text’s structure as tools for
conveying ideas.
• Develop an awareness of the choices an author and illustrator make to convey ideas.
• Focus on why and how the author told the story or shared the information.
Third Reading—What Does the Text Mean?
• Consider what the text means to a reader and how it connects to other texts and the
reader’s life.
Beat the Heat with Summer Learning Activities from ReadWriteThink
by Mary Lynam
E
vidence has shown that all students suffer from the
“summer slide” if they don’t read and write during the
summer break. This is especially true of low-income
students who have little access to books in their homes and
communities (Neuman & Celano, 2001). Having extensively
researched academic setbacks during the summer, particularly
those of poor students, Richard Allington and Anne McGillFranzen recommend that schools consider a summer book
distribution program (2013).
ReadWriteThink.org is proud to be a free resource offering
activities, tips, and tools designed for at-home learning. This
summer, ReadWriteThink is partnering with the Pearson
Foundation’s We Give Books program. Each week, their Read
for My Summer program highlights a book for each of these age
categories: 0–3, 4–7, and 8–10. For every book that children
read using the free, online We Give Books library, they can elect
to donate a book to a public library, broadening access to books
for low-income kids.
Books include fun activities and reading tips to help
kids reinforce and connect with what they read. Below
are examples of titles along with their activities offered by
ReadWriteThink:
Not Your Typical Dragon by Dan Bar-el (Viking
Juvenile): Identify the objects by their first letter,
using the Alphabet Organizer.
www.reading.org
Dinosaur Detectives by Peter Chrisp (DK Publishing):
Solve a crossword puzzle and then build your own.
The Unforgettable Season by Phil Bildner
(Putnam Juvenile): Make trading cards for baseball
legends Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (Viking Juvenile):
Create your own rhymes after learning about them
from this book.
Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman
(Dial): Write a poem or story about your summer
experiences.
For more ideas, see the Reading Today Online article at www.
reading.org/RWTsummer.
References
Allington, R.L., & McGill-Franzen, A. (2013, April/May). Eliminating summer
reading setback: How we can close the rich/poor reading achievement gap.
Reading Today, 10–11.
Neuman, S., & Celano, D. (2001). Access to print in low-income and middleincome communities. Reading Research Quarterly, 36(1), 8–26.
Mary Lynam is a strategic communications intern at the International
Reading Association.
June/July 2013
Reading Today
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